Strymon El Capistan V2 Tape Delay

Bring the warmth, movement, and character of vintage tape echo to your pedalboard. El Capistan V2 combines Strymon’s dTape modeling with spring reverb, tape-style sound-on-sound looping, stereo routing, and full MIDI control.

Start with a short slapback to thicken a melody, add wow and flutter for gently shifting echoes, or build layered ambient textures with longer repeats and the sound-on-sound looper.

Three tape machine types

• Fixed: one playback head, with Time controlling tape speed. Modes select short, medium, or long delay, with sixteenth-note, dotted-eighth-note, or quarter-note tap-tempo intervals.
• Multi: two playback heads create rhythmic echoes. Modes select heads 1 and 2, 2 and 3, or 1 and 3.
• Single: a moving record head changes delay time at a fixed tape speed. Modes offer double-speed, normal-speed, or sound-on-sound operation.

Shape your tape echo

• Time, Mix, and Repeats controls cover subtle echoes through saturated oscillation.
• Tape Age adjusts bandwidth from fresh tape to darker, worn-tape tones.
• Wow & Flutter controls mechanical tape-speed fluctuations.
• Dedicated Spring control adds spring reverb without changing dry or echo levels.
• Live Edit functions include Tape Crinkle, Tape Bias, Low End Contour, and ±3 dB Boost/Cut.
• Dedicated Tap footswitch sets tempo. Hold it for infinite repeats.

Sound-on-sound looping

Select Single tape head, Mode C for tape-style looping with instant tape splice and bulk erase. Loop capacity is 20 seconds at slow speed or 10 seconds at fast speed. Tone-shaping controls affect the loop as it plays back and re-records.

V2 features

• Full MIDI implementation via EXP/MIDI or USB-C.
• 300 MIDI preset locations and MIDI Clock synchronization, with sync settings saved per preset.
• Discrete Class A JFET input circuit for touch-sensitive response.
• Selectable relay-switched true bypass or buffered bypass.
• Line-level input mode adds 10 dB of headroom for synthesizers, keyboards, active basses, and effects loops.
• ARM DSP processing.

Connections

• High-impedance TRS input with rear-panel Mono/Stereo switch. Stereo input requires a TRS adapter cable.
• Independent left and right TS outputs. Use Out L for mono.
• EXP/MIDI input supports a TRS expression pedal, MiniSwitch, MultiSwitch Plus, or TRS MIDI connection.
• USB-C for computer MIDI control and firmware updates.
• Dedicated Tap Tempo and On/Off footswitches.

Audio specifications

• 24-bit / 96 kHz A/D and D/A conversion.
• 520 MHz ARM Superscalar processor.
• 32-bit floating-point processing.
• Frequency response: 20 Hz–20 kHz.
• Input impedance: 1 MΩ. Output impedance: 100 Ω.
• Lightweight anodized dark gray aluminum chassis.

Power and dimensions

Requires 9V DC center-negative power, with a minimum of 300 mA. Do not exceed 9V. Power supply is not included.

• Pedal dimensions: 4.5 inches deep × 4 inches wide × 2.4 inches tall (11.43 × 10.16 × 6.1 cm). These are not packed shipping dimensions.
• Designed and built in the USA.

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